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East Asian themed Vampires would be a fresh theme rarely done if at all. Needs some research on your side on how these look and what their minions are. First stop could be an old "Vampire the Masquerade" book covering this setting and some old Hong Kong Movies. Also Monster Manuals for several Roleplay Games with Asian theme (Legend of the Five Rings, D&D).

From the listed ideas, I have seen a good Undead Bretonnean army once.

HoverBoy wrote:I would also love to see a pegasus lord and a manticore dreadlord face off in aerial combat.

Uh how's that a theme

This thread makes me want a vampire army :(

Haha which part?

Everything

I need to get my 40k army finished first before even considering another one but the ability to play undead without count-as is very appealing.

Kroothawk wrote:East Asian themed Vampires would be a fresh theme rarely done if at all. Needs some research on your side on how these look and what their minions are. First stop could be an old "Vampire the Masquerade" book covering this setting and some old Hong Kong Movies. Also Monster Manuals for several Roleplay Games with Asian theme (Legend of the Five Rings, D&D).

From the listed ideas, I have seen a good Undead Bretonnean army once.

Sorry I didn't see this before, if I remember correctly one of the Vampire Masters fled to the East after the sacking of Lahmia. I could see a couple differant ways to do this, Cathay and Nippon are known for having alot of foriegn magics and so a magic inclined vampire would travel there to learn the secrets of the East. I could see a Necrarch in like chinese style robes and there is actually a Vampire in Japanese mythology but I don't remember how they look at the moment.

Then of course there are the basics like a captain of the Gran Army of Cathay, could use inspiration from the old Cathay army someone made awhile back. Or maybe a Vampire that's worshipped in Ind, something with multiple arms. I'll do some searching to see what kind of vampire related things could be from the Far East, I know asian mythology has ALOT of spirits and ghouls and such. Good call

Warboss Imbad Ironskull wrote:

HoverBoy wrote:I would also love to see a pegasus lord and a manticore dreadlord face off in aerial combat.

Uh how's that a theme

Wrong thread, you should stop making so many

Haha oh I gotcha, hey what can I say I love the game

Here some RPG source books:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Asian-Bestiary-HERO-Sourcebook-HERO-Game-RPG-NEW-/190505882633?pt=UK_Toys_RolePlaying_RL&hash=item2c5b091409
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Asian-Bestiary-Vol-2-HERO-Sourcebook-HERO-Game-NEW-/360347378693?pt=UK_Toys_RolePlaying_RL&hash=item53e660a405
http://www.amazon.com/Creatures-Rokugan-Third-Editi-Legend/dp/1594720401/ref=sr_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299921203&sr=1-13
http://www.amazon.com/Way-Shadowlands-Legend-Five-Rings/dp/1887953264/ref=sr_1_81?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299921296&sr=1-81 (possibly newer edition)
http://www.amazon.com/OP-Kindred-East-Vampire-Masquerade/dp/1565042328/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299921392&sr=1-1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindred_of_the_East

I'll look into those Kroothawk, ok I looked and I do;ot plan on buying any books so sorry but most of those aren't any use to me. The last one on Kindreds of The East pretty much details the Jiang Shi.

I did some reading and in Chinese mythology there is a creature called the Jiang Shi, while originally seen as more of a Zombie then a Vampire Western enfluences have turned it into a vampire like creature. Instead of feeding on blood the Jiang Shi drained a persons chi. So I was thinking about this and I like the idea that a Necrarch went to Cathay because he was seeking knowledge, eventually his mastery over magic became so strong that he no longer needed blood to sustain himself and instead would drain the magic from Wizards and magical artifacts. Eventually the Dragon Emperor grew tired of having his wizards found dead and so hunted down the Vampire, after a great battle between the armies of Cathay and the Undead the Vampire was forced to flee (again) and returned to the Old World posing as a Cathayan dignitary.

The Creatures of Rokukan (legend of the 5 Rings) book http://store.alderac.com/creatures-of-rokugan-third-edition-p-1059.html , also available in 4th edition hardcover ( http://store.alderac.com/enemies-of-the-empire-4th-ed-p-1251.html ), details 200 Asian monster types, including Demons and Undead, most of them quite unknown in Western countries and therefore fresh "count as" monsters and units. In that setting, the shadowlands are the cursed lands where undead roam. No wonder that the current Shadowland miniature range ( http://www.veltd.net/28mmshadowland.htm ) features many undead samurai and Oni (demons). The two smaller creature books are just an addition with other monsters, but of course of a lesser quality.

So I wouldn't dismiss these books (and the accompanying miniatures) too fast.

Edit: The 4th edition book is about enemies of the empire, so includes chapters about ronin, Nezumi and other stuff not relevant to you, but also an undead chapter of 20 pages, a demon chapter of 25 pages and chapters about the shadowlands and spirits. If you search an alternative to the vargulf, you will certainly find something here. The small books include monsters of Indonesia and Thailand etc. as well, so have a different focus.

Ok let me make something clear to you Kroothawk since it didn't sink in on my last response. This thread is about discussing ideas for Vampire Counts armies, you provided a list of books detailing asian monsters including the undead and that's fine I'm sure they're good books with alot of information. But for the general readers in the thread they are absolutly usless, now there may be a person who really likes the idea of a asian themed Vampire Counts army and just may go out and buy those books so they have the information. But for everyone else who isn't going to buy the books they don't add anything to the thread because they don't give any actual information that could be used.

So instead of telling me to change my focus, how about you actually provide information on Undead creatures in asian mythology that everyone can use instead of posting a list of books that someone would have to go buy in order to get any use out of. Examples include the Taotie which in Chinese mythology is a motif that represent one of the 4 evil creatures in the world and glutton and was reported to eat people, this could also be the basis used for a Vampire. Or making a suggestion as to how someone could model mushrooms and fungus on a Bestial vampire if they wanted to stay close to the representation of Jiang Shi, these things are readily available and don't have to be bought to be used. So how about you change your focus to be more in line with the thread and get on the same page as everyone else.

I was under the false impression that you are interested in the Asian theme, now I know you don't give a damn. Fine.
Personally I can't tell you anything about Asian undead, only about Asian ratlings also covered in those books. That's why I only linked without summarizing. If providing the sources offended you, I apologize for that.

you just don't get it do you

Continuing on

There is an actual Vampire god in Aztec mythology called a Camazotz, he's actually a Bat god who hides in caves and grabs those who pass by and eats them. He plays a role in an Aztec myth about twin heroes who go on a journey. While in a cave they are attacked by bat creatures and are forced to hide in their blow pipes to keep from being killed, one of the brothers sticks his head out to see if the creatures are gone and Camazotz rips his head off then takes it to be used as a ball in the games of the gods.

For anyone who wants to do a Lustrian Vampire you could base it off of this, have it so that the Vampire inhabits a cave system deep in the jungle and impales the heads of those lizardmen sent to kill it on the branches of trees near the caves opening. I think that would be a cool terrain peice actually

HawaiiMatt wrote:I really dislike the basic skeleton and wight models.
They don't look like raised ancient army, they look like a raised army with all new bat-themed gear.
I don't know, maybe a 1,000 years ago, giant bat wing armor was all the rage.


I think I'm going to steal the Frankenstein idea for my Stragoi army; using a Frankenstein model for one of my Vargulfs.


-Matt

What about using Mantic Ghouls? They look good, or you could start collecting some Cthulhu themed ghouls - lots out there. I've actually used GW Ghouls as Cthulhu-esque Ghouls LOL

Ohhh.....I've been thinking about this for a while. I'd do a Medieval Japanese inspired army...scratch that I want an army inspired be the eighties epic "Big Trouble in Little China".


Based off models from the Wyrd Minatures - Spirits of Vengeance Line. Going heavy on ethereal units: ethereal vampire, spirit hosts, and of course Wraiths and a Banshee. Sub in some mounted Samurai for black knights, to keep the ethereal theme going. Maybe use some Helldarodo miniatures - Immortals as well.











Oh and skeletons with straw hats!